1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for protecting the passengers of a motor vehicle during a side impact or during a collision similar to a side impact, in which an energy input acts essentially laterally on a door area of the motor vehicle, having at least one girder stabilizing the motor vehicle door against an energy input acting essentially laterally on the motor vehicle door, which provides at least one side impact girder lying in the motor vehicle door and traversing the latter, which is operationally linked to at least two support areas within stable vehicle body areas enclosing the motor vehicle door in case of collision. In addition, the invention relates to a method for increasing the passenger protection in a vehicle during a side impact situation is described.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Passenger protection in motor vehicles is one of the main objects in the construction and development of motor vehicles. A separate development goal is to provide pronounced crumple zones in the front and rear areas, which are capable of largely safely protecting the passenger interior during front and rear collisions. In contrast, during lateral collisions, passenger protection causes larger problems because of the smaller deformation paths available and the lesser absorption capability of the lateral structure of a motor vehicle.
Known achievements for reducing the danger to passengers arising during side collisions of motor vehicles provide stiffening of the motor vehicle door. Thus, for example, profiles integrated in the motor vehicle door, which have a high rigidity and/or a high energy absorption capability in the vehicle transverse direction, are known. For example, a vehicle door having side impact protection, in whose door frame curved holding rods are provided, which are twisted and deformed under tensile strain similarly to the action of a net, is disclosed in DE 196 33 637 A1.
Stiffening the side doors by providing corresponding longitudinal girders is insufficient for protecting the passengers in more serious cases of collision, however, since in the event of an external force acting on the side door, this door is pressed through the door cutout of the vehicle body, so that the survival space of the passengers is drastically constricted and the survival chances are reduced in the same way.
In addition, the prior art includes an array of measures which are capable of transmitting forces acting on the side door to the vehicle body. For example, these measures include appropriately large overlap between door and door cutout or through bolts projecting out of the edge of the door, which engage in case of collision in reinforced recesses of the door cutout of the motor vehicle body. Thus, a reinforcement unit is provided for a motor vehicle door, which essentially comprises an outwardly arched girder, whose end sections penetrate into appropriately stable recesses within the door frame in the event of deformation of the girder into a stretched shape due to an external impact, which is disclosed in DE AS 22 15 674. The girder preferably comprises profiled sheet steel, which is brought into the appropriate form through rolling.
To avoid the increase of the intrinsic weight of the motor vehicle caused by the above measures, a reinforcement unit provided for a motor vehicle door, which comprises a curved, molded reinforcement unit manufactured from fiber-reinforced composite material for reasons of weight reduction, is described in DE 41 25 299 C2. In this case as well, the reinforcement device is completely inside the door, whose end areas only project on both sides out of the door in case of collision because of the accompanying deformation of the reinforcement girder, which are in turn operationally linked to stable support flanks in the door frame of the motor vehicle body.